I don't know how many years they did it, but I know that CBS covered the State Boys in 1978 and the State Boys in 1985 and 86. Russ Smith and Jim Adelson were the announcers in the 80s. A lot of people will disagree, but I actually enjoyed listening to them.
That is correct, although back then I just tried to attend all 3 days. I will admit though I miss NBC doing the B.
Overall thoughts...A 3 class system. I just don't know how this can be done without a lot of head aches, heart breaks, and division (possibly among families/friends and schools). I have no magic wand or crystal ball to forecast this one. Its ugly and not even sure it will work.
Only one thought I could even think of is an "opt-in" Class C division which would be a 3 on 3 with a smaller court type atmosphere. It could maybe eliminate all these co-ops who still struggle to get a team together. Most of the smaller schools have small gyms already. They would just need to be repainted. Varsity teams could have no more than 7 players total. The good? Small schools don't lose their identity, reduced road time for co-op players to neighboring towns for practice, towns play against each other like the good ole days instead of sitting on the same sidelines (school identity again?) traveling longer distances for games, much faster paced game, and no need to bring up kids from 7th and 8th grade to make your team unless athletically ready. Just thinking out loud on this one so don't hold me over the flames too much.
I guess at the end of the day I think of it like this. Whether the players are from Bismarck or Kulm; they are North Dakota kids. If I have to continue to watch ND kids play basketball somewhere, I can live with that.